Huron County areas see up to 4 inches of rainfall Monday

Work on road projects continued on through rain

By Robert Creenan, robert.creenan@hearst.com

Published
1:48 pm EDT, Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Heavy rains on Monday caused flooding on farms like this one near Kinde. The National Weather Service's Detroit office reported that the hardest-hit area of Huron County received up to four inches of rain. (Robert Creenan/Huron Daily Tribune)

Heavy rains on Monday caused flooding on farms like this one near Kinde. The National Weather Service's Detroit office reported that the hardest-hit area of Huron County received up to four inches of rain.

Heavy rains on Monday caused flooding on farms like this one near Kinde. The National Weather Service's Detroit office reported that the hardest-hit area of Huron County received up to four inches of rain. (Robert Creenan/Huron Daily Tribune)

Heavy rains on Monday caused flooding on farms like this one near Kinde. The National Weather Service's Detroit office reported that the hardest-hit area of Huron County received up to four inches of rain.

HURON COUNTY — Heavy rainfall drenched Huron County all day Monday, with reports from the National Weather Service’s Detroit/Pontiac office saying several locations experienced between one and four inches of rain.

“Port Austin had four inches of rainfall and Port Hope had 3.39 inches,” said Andrew Arnold, a meteorologist with the NWS’s Detroit/Pontiac office. “The shorelines did receive more rain than inland.”

A National Weather Service lakeshore flood warning was in effect until Tuesday evening for all eastern Michigan counties stretching from the shorelines of Lake Erie to the Saginaw Bay.

In Huron and Sanilac counties, east to northeast winds were between 15 and 25 mph, with the NWS warning that already high lake levels will worsen long-term flooding and erosion along the lakeshore.

“Whenever you get that amount of rain and winds, erosion is going to be exacerbated a little bit up there,” Arnold said.

Arnold does not predict that Huron County will experience the same level of rainfall for the next few days, though predictions for further are too far ahead.

“You should see scattered rainfall, but nothing on Monday’s level,” Arnold said.

Despite the heavy rain, no roads were closed and work on some projects continued on.

Neal Hentschl, the secretary-manager for the Huron County Road Commission, said that while the area received significant rain, the drains and ditches all over the county were full, running as designed.

He attributes that to the county’s drain department doing aggressive work in keeping the drains maintained.

“Most people don’t see it and don’t care,” Hentschl said. “But when something like this happens, it really shows itself in a positive way.”

Hentschl said that the county has not had as bad of flooding as other parts of Michigan, but the northern part of the county received more rain

“We’re in a situation where we have 90 miles of shoreline,” Hentschl said. “The lake level's higher than normal. The outlets are not blocked, but the water being higher takes longer to dissipate.”

The road commission continued to work on various road projects through the rain on Monday.

“It’s just miserable working in the rain,” Hentschl said. “We try to stay ahead.”